Piper Kerman: To end recidivism, fix issues that lead to incarceration

Problems felons encounter when they get out of prison (and that often cause them to return) are the same ones that got them incarcerated: lack of safe housing, drug addiction and food insecurity. Address those, Kerman said, before incarceration.
USA TODAY Opinion

Kerman spent more than a year incarcerated. Hear her story of re-entry.

Taylor Schilling, left, plays the character based on Piper Kerman, right, in "Orange is the New Black."(Photo: Brian Bowen Smith, Netflix)

While her incarceration experiences were a struggle, her transition back to society was, compared with most women who leave the prison system, relatively smooth. Find out what she encountered and how it differs from the poverty, lack of services and assistance that so many women face. She's an advocate for better transitional services and pushes to change our modern-day prison structure for men, women and juveniles.

Above, take a look at her Facebook live interview with Eileen Rivers, web content editor for USA TODAY's Editorial Page and editor of Policing the USA's Re-entry project.